Day 4 in Sonoma : Cutest..town..EVER!!

Some of the more popular/highly reviewed breakfast restaurants in San Francisco only open at 7:30 or 8am surprisingly.  We really wanted to check out a place called Mama’s on Washington Square in North Beach, so we got up early, checked out, and drove to Mama’s and the line up was out the door and down the block, so once again, we had to wing in with no plan B.  Very VERY stressful hahahaha. So we drove around and came upon a San Francisco chain of French bakeries called La Boulange (subsequently they have been bought out by Starbucks..but hopefully they remain as they are because they are so cute!).  We had been wanting to check out this place so we were happy to see it along the street.  Jen ordered granola and fruit, and Cindy wanted baguette toast, but apparently they cannot only offer you a portion of a baguette, so I had to buy the whole thing, and they toasted half of it, and gave me the other half in a bag.  There is a big condiment bar area that offers nutella, jam, butter, etc, but I happened to notice a jar of caramel for sale, and couldn’t resist. 

So I had warm buttered baguette with soft yummy caramel sauce (and jam on some pieces) and it was fantastic.  Although I must say, Cindy Lee’s wedding caramel was actually better, jen agrees. Lol J

We hopped back in our jeep for the 1 hour drive to Sonoma, where we had a bicycle wine tour scheduled at 10:30am.  We arrived in town at 10:15am, parked our car, dropped our bags at the B & B office at Bungalows 313 and made our way to the town square to try to find our bike tour meeting point.  Couldn’t find it at first, frantically calling the bike tour phone number we had, but we finally met our tour guide in a parking lot – Doug,  next to his Goodtime Touring Van, and realized that the tour was going to be private, as just the two of us had signed up for this particular day.  Very exciting!! 

Doug gave us some great little history tidbits of the area of Sonoma, about wine and wine growing,  and just an all around great day.  It was hot, beautiful, a great contrast from the cool weather in San Francisco, and a nice RELAXING bicycle ride (for the most part) compared to our ass bruising ride the day before.  Hahahaha

We visited 3 wineries over 6 hours and a cheese factory, and the best part was realizing that Doug was a former mayor of the town, and everywhere we turned someone was saying “hi Doug!”..we felt like Doug’s groupies and after the third winery, and a slight buzz (ok maybe more than slight) we offered Doug an Almond sandwich.  ;) He had never had one, and I think he liked it?? Lollll

 

The absolute BEST part of our day though, was the AMAAAZING picnic that Doug put together for us.  While we were having a tasting at the second winery, Doug was outside in the gardens of the winery setting up a picnic table with a blue checkered table cloth, napkins, white wine to go with the picnic, fresh strawberries picked that morning, a juicy pear, tart grapes picked from Doug’s garden, the best deli sandwiches we’ve ever had, a fresh green salad, and the best part – a yummy chocolatey cupcake with a candle for Jen’s birthday! I had asked Doug prior in an e-mail if he could do something like this as a surprise for Jen, and he didn’t have to accommodate this at all, but he went above and beyond to make it special.  We even also got a macadamia chewy cookie as well!  We were in HEAVENNNNNN.

After saying our goodbyes to Doug after having our best day yet, we checked in to our bungalow – and it was really such a beautiful little haven.  Great little courtyard with couches and bistro tables, and our room was awesome. Rustic chic, with a little kitchen, king bed, fireplace (which we didn’t need this day) and the shower was amazing with Aveda products.  I never thought I’d be a hotel amenities snob, but I realized that it DOES add to the experience to have some fancy little shampoos and soaps. J 

We crashed on our bed for a power nap which turned into at 1-2 hour affair.  We woke up refreshed and sober, and got ready for a night out in the Sonoma Square.  The Sonoma Square has got to be the cutest little town EVER, we couldn’t stop talking about how cute it was and how perfect it would be for a girls getaway, or a forced couples getaway. Hahahahha

We walked the entire square to check out our options for dinner, although I had done prior research and had an idea of where we should go.  We tried to eat at the Girl and the Fig, however, the wait was too long, and so we decided to check out Rin’s Thai – which turned out to be an excellent choice.  We ordered Puffies which were awesome – fried wontons stuffed with pork, veggies, etc ( I think) with a dipping sauce.  The waiter came by to ask if we liked shrimp and brought us a plate of fried shrimp as well – which was a really nice surprise seeing as we are pigs and love to eat.  No really, jen won’t stop talking about eating, it’s all she’s been doing all week..we aren’t even done ordering an appetizer and shes’ already talking what we’re going to eat tomorrow. No really. I’m so proud of her.  So anyway – Jen ordered Pad Thai, and I ordered a dish that I can’t remember the name, but it was pork with veggies and flat noodles with a soy/hoisin sauce base and had a little kick, it was delicious.  For dessert, we ordered fried banana with coconut ice cream and it was drizzled with a caramel sauce…HELLO. HEAVEN. 

 

After this, we walked around to see if there was any nightlife going on, and went into Steiner’s sports bar to have a beer.  They had one of our favourite’s, Newcastle, so we sat at the bar and had a beer and watched some Olympics on the flat screen.  We had a game of pool, I kicked Jen’s butt, and then we went back to the bar for another beer and chatted with a retired crab fisherman who was entertaining.  This place had a really cool vibe, and what was fun was a giant sized ipod touch screen jukebox, where you could put in a dollar bill and choose 2 or 3 songs.  FUN!

Around 11ish we called it a night, got in our jammies and watched a little tv.   We went to bed with a plan of getting up for a run the next morning, and that we for sure wanted to spend the next day browsing the shops and soaking it all in before heading to our next destination – Carmel-by the Sea.  For more about Sonoma and Carmel-by-the Sea, stay tuned!